Airplane Systems Flashcards
What are the five major parts included in most airplanes?
Fuselage Wings Enpannage Landing Gear Power Plant
What is an open truss structure?
Planes that had no fuselage but had the cockpit surrounded by struts and wire bracing.
What is usually included inside of a fuselage?
Seats, storage for cargo, and controlls for flying the plane.
What is the name of the construction where part of the flight load is carried by struts and other structural supports and the other part of the flight load is carried by an outside skin of sheet metal or plywood or carbon composites?
Stressed Skin
What does monocoque mean?
The skin of the fuselage carries all of the flight load and there is little or no internal framework.
What is the chief limiatation of a monocoque?
It cannot tollerate any dents or deformations of the surface without a potential collapse.
What is the fuselage style used in many modern airplanes to give the best strength and performance?
Semi-monocoque which is a monocoque fuselage with a substructure attached to it to help it maintain its shape.
What is the name for an airplane with one set of wings?
Monoplane
What is the name for an airplane with two sets of wings?
Biplane
What are the three ways wings can be attached to a fuselage?
High Wing
Mid Wing
Low Wing
What are the two types of control surfaces on a wing?
Ailerons
Flaps
Where are Ailerons located?
On the back edge of the wings closest to the tip.
Where are the flaps located?
On the back edge of the wings closest to the fuselage.
What do you use ailerons for?
To turn the plane in flight.
What do you use flaps for?
To create lift during takeoff and landing.
What direction do ailerons move?
In opposite directions from eachother.
If you turn the wheel left, how do the ailerons move?
The left aileron moves up and the right aileron moves down.
What are the four parts of the empennage?
Vertical Stabalizer (fin)
Rudder
Horizontal Stabalizer
Elevator
Where is the rudder?
It’s on the back of the vertical stabalizer.
What do you do with a rudder?
You controll it with the pedals and it in combination with the ailerons lets you turn the plane.
If you press the left pedal, what impact does this have on the rudder?
The rudder will extend to the left which will cause the nose of the plane to be shoved to the left by the air flow.
Where is the elevator?
It’s on the back of the horizontal stabalizer.
If you pull back on the wheel what happens to the elevator?
The elevator goes up shoving the back of the plane down and the nose of the plane up.
What is a stabilator?
A once piece horizontal stabalizer without an elevator. It pivots up and down on a central hinge point much like the elevator.
What is an anti-servo tab?
It provides resistance in the controls for a stabilitor basically functioning as a trim tab for the stabiltor.
What does a trim tab do?
It lessens the resistance that you feel on the controls.
Where is a trim tab located?
On the elevator
What is the name for landing gear where the third wheel is in the rear?
Conventional Landing Gear
What do you call an airplane with conventional landing gear?
Tailwheel airplane
What is the name for landing gear where the third wheel is in the front?
Tricycle Gear
What do you call an airplane with trycycle landing gear?
Nosewheel
What are the two kinds of nosewheels?
Steerable
Castering
What is the difference between Steerable and Castering nosewheels?
Steerable nosewheels are linked to the rudders by cables and rods and castering are not. Castering nosewheels can still be controlled by rudders but breaks must be used to, particularly in sharp turns.
When not classifying landing gear by the placement of the wheel, what are the two kinds of landing gear?
Fixed Gear
Retractable Gear
What are the benefits of fixed gear landing gear?
Simplicity and low cost
What is the benefit of retractable landing gear?
More streamlined aerodynamics, but the high cost typically limits it to high performance aircraft.
What kind of landing gear is best for rough unpaved landing strips?
Tail wheel planes with conventional landing gear.
What is a plane that can also serve as a boat called?
An Amphibian
How is a seaplane different from an amphibian?
The seaplane has twin floats for landing on water, but an amphibian can actually act as a boat in the water as well.
What are struts for?
They attach the wheels to the planes and trasmit the shock of landing to the plane at an acceptable rate.
What is an oleo strut?
The most popular strut, it uses a piston enclosed in a cylinder with oil and compressed air to absorb shock.
What kind of brakes do training planes usually have?
Disk Brakes
What is differential braking?
Applying more preasure to one set of brakes than to the other.
What do you use differential braking for?
To help steer the plane on the ground.
What are the two parts of the powerplant?
Engine
Propeller
What are the three things accessories mounted to the engine do?
Generate Electrical power
Create a vacuum source for flight instraments
Heat the cockpit
What separates the engine compartment and the cockpit?
The firewall
What does the cowling do?
Encloses the engine, and cools it by ducting air around the cylinders.
What does the propeller do?
Receives power from the engine and converts it into thrust which yields forward motion.
What does POH stand for?
Pilot Operating Handbook
What does AFM stand for?
Airplane Flight Manual (Specific to an airplanes model and required for all planes after 1979)
What is a PIM?
Pilots Information Manual (a striped down version of the AFM)
What are the two types of engines?
Reciprocating
Turbine
Which is more powerful, a reciprocating engine or a turbine engine?
Turbine
How does energy get from the engine to the propeller?
Through the crankshaft
Where does combustion happen?
In the pistons
What are the steps of the Four stroke Operating Cycle?
Intake
Compression
Combustion
Exhaust
What are pitot-statuic instraments?
Those that operate on air pressure differentials.
What are the three groupings for flight instraments?
Pitot Static
Gyroscopic
Magnetic
List three examples of pitot static instraments.
Airspeed Indicator
Altimiter
Vertical Speed Indicator
List three examples of gyroscopic instraments.
Attitude Indicator
Turn Coordinator
Heading Indicator
What is the magnetic instrament?
Magnetic Compas
What do you use to set the heading indicator?
The magnetic compas
What does CDU stand for?
Control Display Unit
What does CRT stand for?
Cathode Ray Tube (old instrament panels used this)
What is normal air pressure at sea level?
14.7 pounds per square inch
What happens to pressure as you increase altitude?
Pressure lowers.
At constant altitude, what happens to pressure as temperature decreases
Pressure lowers.
What are the nine instraments required for daytime VFR flights?
Airspeed Indicator Altimiter Magnetic Compas Tachometer Oil Pressure Gauge Oil Temperature Gauge Mainfold Pressure Gauge (if you have a constant speed propeller) Fuel gauge for each tank Landing gear position indicator (if you have retractable landing gear)
What does ISA stand for?
International Standard Atmosphere
What is the standard atmosphere at sea level?
29.92 inches HG (1013.2 millibars) at a temperature of 15C or 59F
What is the standard lapsse rate for pressure?
1 inch HG less for every 1000 feet that you go up
What is the standard lapse rate for temperature?
2C less for every 1000 feet that you go up
What is another name for pitot pressure?
Impact or RAM air pressure
Where is the pitot tube located?
On the wing or nose (the wing for my plane)
What is a static port for?
Measures air pressure not relative to speed.
Where is the static port located?
Flush mounted on the side of the fuselage where the air is relatively undisturbed
How is airspeed calculated?
By comparing the speed of static pressure with the speed of ram air pressure.
What do the various colors on the airspeed indicator mean?
White Arch=Flap operating ranges
Green Arc is normal operations
Yellow Arc is the caution range. Only fly in this range in smooth air and do so with caution.
Red Line marks the never exceed speed
What are V-Speeds?
Speeds at the boundaries of a colored arc on the airspeed indicator which indicate airspeed limitations.
What is the Vs0 speed?
It’s at the lower limit of the white arc. It’s the stall speed when in landing configuration.
What is the Vs1 speed?
It’s at the lower limit of the green arch. It’s the stall speed when in regular flight configuration.
What is the Vfe speed?
It’s at the upper limit of the white arc. It’s the maximum speed for flaps extended.
Whats the Vno speed?
It’s at the upper limit of the green arc. It’s maximum cruise speed. Don’t exceed except in smooth air.
What is the Vne speed?
The red line. Never exceed. Operating above this speed may cause structural failure.
What is the VA speed?
Maximum manuevering speed. You find this in the POH as its dependant on the load being carried.
If you have landing gear, what V-speeds do you need to pay attention to?
VLE-maximum speed for landing gear being extended
VLO-maximum speed for raising or lowering landing gear
What does IAS stand for?
Indicated Airspeed
What does Indicated Airspeed mean?
It’s the reading you get from the airspeed indicator. It’s set for sea level and doesn’t adjust when you climb. It’s also uncorrected for installation and instrament errors.
What is CAS?
Calibrated Airspeed
What does Calibrated Airspeed mean?
It’s Indicated airspeed adjusted for installation and instrament errors by consulting the tables in the POH.
What does TAS stand for?
True Airspeed
What does True Airspeed mean?
The speed of your plane through the air. It’s calibrated airspeed corrected for increased altitude and non-standard temperature.
What does GS stand for?
Groundspeed
How is groundspeed calculated?
It’s True Airspeed adjusted for wind.
